Tendo City

Casual game focused, with exceptions for major franchises, that is. (note that the DS has all of the top 10 -- with six casual games, Mario, Mario Basketball, Final Fantasy, and a new RPG.

Quote:Media Create Sales: 21 -27 August

01 NDS FF3 - 503.051 / NEW
02 NDS NEW SMB - 65.556 / 2.901.264
03 NDS Rune Factory - 42.210 / NEW
04 NDS Brain Age 2 - 41.784 / 3.073.195
05 NDS Cooking Navi - 37.326 / 384.045
06 NDS Tamagotchi 2 - 30.504 /430.933
07 NDS Mario Basketball 3on3 - 30.355
08 NDS Animal Crossing WW - 30.023 / 3.149.131
09 NDS Brain Age - 22.866 / 2.736.150
10 NDS English Training - 17.465

1. Nintendo DS Lite 　163.274
2. PlayStation Portable 　29.945
3. PlayStation 2 　21.829
4. GameBoy Advance SP 　2.719
5. GameBoy Micro　 1819
6. Xbox 360 　1197
7. Nintendo GameCube　 837
8. Nintendo DS　 410
9. GameBoy Advance 　14
10. Xbox　 12

I know that these "DS is winning Japan" things are not new at all, but still, all 10 for the DS, with casual games so obviously pushing the market... could this happen here? I'm not sure... similarly aren't cell phone games a lot more popular there than here? Though that's in part because cell phones in Japan all use one system while here there are a bunch of incompatible ones... anyway, while the DS's success is nice, it's happening in a way that doesn't really encourage the development of games for hardcore gamers -- which is why despite the far smaller userbase those titles seem to be perhaps more likely to be released on the PSP (third party games, I mean)... maybe that will change but the DS market really is dominated by nongame products, casual games, and franchises, more so than any other console I know of. Is this a good thing? For Nintendo yes, unquestionably. For hardcore gamers? Well, maybe, just because of all the good games on the DS, but ... well, the PC continues to have fine success as a casual gaming platform, but isn't exactly doing well for hardcore gamers these days...

The real question is, are the people who buy a DS for Brain Training or Tamagochi going to start buying more traditional games too?

Plus, the cell phone systems in Japan have been getting pretty powerful lately, making the N-Gage an even bigger embarressment.

The lack of standardized cell phones in the US is the main reason our phones are missing out on a lot of unique games being released "over thar". We also missed out on the online mode in Pokemon Crystal due to the lack of standardized link ports in cell phones stateside.

I can appreciate a nice diversity but at this point it isn't so nice. It's just annoying.

Well, that said, I don't even have a cell phone.

New Super Mario Bros. is selling better than any other Super Mario Bros. title since Super Mario World. So to answer to answer your question, yes, I think people that buy Brain Training and Cooking Mama are also picking up NSMB and maybe FFIII as well.

And most of those aren't really "casual" games per se, as that implies that they are mainly being sold to the same kind of people who buy Madden and licensed shlock. These are mainly being sold to people that have never really played games before, such as girls, older adults and lapsed gamers.

Quote:New Super Mario Bros. is selling better than any other Super Mario Bros. title since Super Mario World. So to answer to answer your question, yes, I think people that buy Brain Training and Cooking Mama are also picking up NSMB and maybe FFIII as well.

But it doesn't seem to be convincing game companies to release games for the hardcore on the DS. The "games to buy" list is dominated by Nintendo's own titles, like all of Nintendo's systems since the N64, despite its success, while more of the third party games aimed at the core gamer market seem to end up on PSP. Selling Mario to someone who doesn't play many games isn't as big of a stretch as selling other games would be... same with FF. Or Dragon Quest. Is the DS's success actually selling it to the hardcore gamer market, beyond longtime Nintendo fans? I'm not so sure... maybe FFIII will help there though. We'll see.

Quote:Plus, the cell phone systems in Japan have been getting pretty powerful lately, making the N-Gage an even bigger embarressment.

The lack of standardized cell phones in the US is the main reason our phones are missing out on a lot of unique games being released "over thar". We also missed out on the online mode in Pokemon Crystal due to the lack of standardized link ports in cell phones stateside.

I can appreciate a nice diversity but at this point it isn't so nice. It's just annoying.

Well, that said, I don't even have a cell phone.

I don't have one either, and don't want one. :)

But yes, the lack of standardization in the US definitely is hurting application development, as is the lower level of technology used in US phones compared to Japanese ones (ie: they spend more on cellphones)...

Quote:But it doesn't seem to be convincing game companies to release games for the hardcore on the DS. The "games to buy" list is dominated by Nintendo's own titles, like all of Nintendo's systems since the N64, despite its success, while more of the third party games aimed at the core gamer market seem to end up on PSP. Selling Mario to someone who doesn't play many games isn't as big of a stretch as selling other games would be... same with FF. Or Dragon Quest. Is the DS's success actually selling it to the hardcore gamer market, beyond longtime Nintendo fans? I'm not so sure... maybe FFIII will help there though. We'll see.

Contact, Children of Mana, FFIII, Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime, Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles DS, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney 2, Harvest Moon DS, Rune Factory, Hotel Dusk: Room 215, Lost in Blue 2, Tales of the Tempest, Steel Horizon, Touch Detective, Micro Machines V4, Xenosaga I&II, and ASH. That's what I came up with on a quick overview of an upcoming games list. The third party games are coming, most of them just aren't here yet.

Xenosaga I & II? Doubt that's ever coming out here... as for those others, yeah, sure (though many of those are already out in Japan), but you can make a list of upcoming games for any current platform...

Part of the issue is that it's a portable, of course. They always get less attention than the major consoles from third parties... Nintendo too, but they seem to put more effort into their handhelds than anyone else does, for sure. But the PSP comparison... while I would definitely rather have a DS than a PSP, when I look at the games on the shelves I see plenty of PSP games I wouldn't mind owning if I had the money... it's not like the thing has no games. It's just expensive and they are Playstation-style games, not Nintendo-style games, as you would expect... not sure about the upcoming lineup though. Aren't the systems themselves selling okay (but nowhere near as well as the DS) but the games not so much so?

The fact that the DS is beating the PSP really shows two things: that handheld and console markets are very different, and that Nintendo's non/casual gamer focused strategy in Japan has worked. I know that's obvious, but looking at the actual games on each system, the DS has GC-like games, and the PSP has PS2-like games, yet the situation is going the exact opposite way from that one... it's just an interesting contrast.

Quote:New Super Mario Bros. is selling better than any other Super Mario Bros. title since Super Mario World. So to answer to answer your question, yes, I think people that buy Brain Training and Cooking Mama are also picking up NSMB and maybe FFIII as well.

And most of those aren't really "casual" games per se, as that implies that they are mainly being sold to the same kind of people who buy Madden and licensed shlock. These are mainly being sold to people that have never really played games before, such as girls, older adults and lapsed gamers.

You're wrong there. Casual games are not necessarially lame cashins and stuff like Madden. Note that I said "like US PC gaming". PC. Think about the PC sales lists... dominated by casual games like SimCity, The Sims, Rollercoaster Tycoon, The Sims, The Sims, Tycoon Knockoff #534542, World of Warcraft, and two or three random FPSes and/or RTSes. The Sims isn't a bad game... it's just not for gamers. Same goes for most of that stuff on top of the DS charts.

As for Mario, as I said, like Final Fantasy, it's the analog of World of Warcraft -- a huge franchise that sells well even in casual-dominated times.

You're right that NSMB's Japanese sales have been amazing, though (somewhat less so here though, I think? I mean they have been good, but not "rivalling Super Mario World" good for sure. Not even close... though that's not fair since SMW was a packin in the US. :)). You know what that means... there WILL be a sequel. Gauranteed. :D

I think you're wrong about some of those games not being for gamers. Brain Training is, despite what it seems on the surface, a genuinely fun game, as is Animal Crossing. And this is coming from someone who's been playing videogames since the early 90's.

Quote:(somewhat less so here though, I think? I mean they have been good, but not "rivalling Super Mario World" good for sure. Not even close... though that's not fair since SMW was a packin in the US.

It's somewhere between 1 million and 1.5 million at the moment. And probably about the same in Europe. I was speaking specifically of Japan though. If we bring the US into the equation then NSMB is soundly beaten by Super Mario 64's 5+ million sales.

Quote:I think you're wrong about some of those games not being for gamers. Brain Training is, despite what it seems on the surface, a genuinely fun game, as is Animal Crossing. And this is coming from someone who's been playing videogames since the early 90's.

And some gamers enjoy Sim and Tycoon games. Just because they are designed for casual gamers does not mean that they cannot be fun for hardcore gamers too, sometimes... I like SimCity, it's a good game...

Quote:It's somewhere between 1 million and 1.5 million at the moment. And probably about the same in Europe. I was speaking specifically of Japan though. If we bring the US into the equation then NSMB is soundly beaten by Super Mario 64's 5+ million sales.

It is kind of funny to be talking about Japanese sales and then give a list of upcoming US titles as 'upcoming games', though... :)

Well, about half of those games haven't even come out in Japan yet. Plus, finding a good list of upcoming DS games in Japan isn't the easiest thing to come by.